


Just a Couple of Monsters

by Beastrage



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amnesia, Blood and Gore, Bloodletting, Body Horror, Canon-Typical Violence, Death Threats, For Want of a Nail, Game: Kingdom Hearts II, Gen, Hurt Roxas (Kingdom Hearts), In the territory of Emotion Monsters, Kidnapping, Memory Alteration, Metaphysical Gore, Monster Biology, Non-Consensual Bloodletting, Roxas Being a Badass, Self-Harm, Slow To Update, Swearing, Two boys on a roadtrip, Vanitas Being an Asshole (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas Is Bad at Feelings (Kingdom Hearts), Vanitas' everything, monster transformations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23797312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Beastrage/pseuds/Beastrage
Summary: A boy who broke his heart to save his friends.A girl who died at the hands of her best friend to save a hero. Perfectly selfless. Heroic.But what about the other side? The boy who was shattered and the boy who killed his own friend. They didn’t ask for this, didn’t ask to be trapped inside a clueless hero.So why not refuse? Aren’t you tired of being selfless, a Hero?How about being a Monster, instead?( A fic where Vanitas breaks Roxas out of Digital Twilight Town and everything promptly goes to hell.)
Relationships: Roxas & Vanitas (Kingdom Hearts)
Comments: 100
Kudos: 138





	1. The Path Less Taken (Leads to Critical Mode)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas is pretty confused and in the end, so is everyone else. Especially Vanitas (even if he's pretending not to be.) Ready for Critical Mode?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another day, another WIP... *hums cheerfully*  
> Or the roadtrip fic I've wanted to write for *years.*  
> A lot of the dialogue between Roxas and Axel comes directly from KH2. Otherwise, will be fairly different.

Roxas falls. 

The Dark hole in front of him, full of those grabbing, grasping white monsters, swallows him up. Into the unknown. From the forest to...who knows where. 

He can’t save himself, can’t stop himself. 

He still reaches out anyway. For anything, for  _ anyone.  _ Even into the Dark.

He’s falling and falling. Reaching and struggling. 

(It’s cold in here. Always cold in here. The prison of this strange void. 

There’s something falling. Something familiar. 

Is that...?

_ His Light. _

He struggles against the chains keeping him bound. Frees one hand. Only one hand.

Could use that hand, to try and free himself even more. 

That’s what he  _ should  _ do. 

But that Light...

He reaches out. 

And the Light, for once in his miserable existence, reaches  _ back. _ )

Roxas falls and lands on...glass? What’s going on?

Opening his eyes...he’s on a platform. A platform made of glass. There’s a boy on it, with brown hair and red clothes. Eyes closed as if he’s sleeping. 

The boy seems...familiar somehow. Though Roxas  _ knows  _ for a fact that he’s never met this guy before. Not in his entire life. Yet...

Somewhere in his chest, he  _ knows  _ this boy. 

Blue eyes examine the glass carefully, taking in everything about his new surroundings. The boy...Roxas’ eyes widen. He’s holding the Keyblade.  _ Roxas’  _ Keyblade. 

“What’s going on?”

Before his eyes, appear three different objects. A shield, a sword, and a staff. 

The Dark beyond the platform shakes and shivers, glimpses of the silver monsters writhing into his sight and back out again. Like they’re trying to break in.

Roxas shivers. 

The objects float there. Waiting for him to do something. 

“Uh...what do I do now?”

No answers. Just him and the weapons and the monsters in the Dark. 

Great. 

Well, the sword might be best for fighting here. He walks towards it and reaches out, wrapping his hand around it. The sword vanishes into a flurry of lights and the world shakes as something new appears from nowhere. 

A door. His body trembles. 

Why is a door so important?

When Roxas holds out his hand, the Keyblade appears in it. He looks down at the weapon and then at the door. Well, it is a key, isn’t it?

“Well, can’t do anything else here...”

Roxas reaches out with the Keyblade and with a twist of his hand, light comes out of it to open the door. 

The door that fades away and off to the edges of the platform appears something new.

Two sets of stained glass stairs. Another choice. One leading up up into the light, to what looks like another platform like the one he’s currently on. The other...goes down into the Dark. To somewhere Roxas cannot see. 

The bright path, full of Light, is far more welcoming. A hum in his chest as Roxas  _ wants  _ to go up those steps. But...he hesitates, eying those stairs carefully. 

On the edges, in the Dark...he swears he can see silver bodies twist and turn. More monsters, waiting for him to go up. Attack him. 

The Light seems to draw in the monsters just as much as they do him. Waiting and  _ hungry.  _

There’s no gleaming silver surrounding or on the steps going down. So maybe there’s no monsters down there?

Anywhere away from more monsters sounds like a pretty good idea to him. 

Downstairs it is. 

The stairs seem to go on forever, but when they do come to an end...

At another glass platform with another sleeping boy. A boy with dark hair. And a red background, instead of blue. 

At least, Roxas thinks it’s a boy like the first platform. Kinda hard to see with so many pieces missing, cracks and chunks Roxas has to be careful to mind or risk falling through to the dark nothingness below. 

Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. 

But there are no monsters here. Which is a definite plus. 

Roxas tilts his head one side and then to the other, squinting. Down here, with less light than up above, it’s a little hard to see every part of the picture properly. He still tries. 

There’s something almost...sad, about this collapsing picture. Left in this darkness, alone to rot. 

No tug in his chest here, drawing him towards the picture. No connection at all. 

Just...him and the glass boy. Alone. 

Roxas shivers. Chilly down here. Very different from the heat of a Twilight Town summer. 

“How do I get out?”

The floor under his feet trembles. Shakes as  _ something  _ reaches out, something huge and gray and monstrous. A creature with no face like the rest of monsters that have been chasing Roxas. Tall and shivering, face zooming up to his. Roxas steps back, turns, tries to  _ run.  _ But there’s nowhere to go and his footing is very unstable, glass shaking and shivering as the monster attacks. 

It’s all he can manage, to fight back with the Keyblade. Strike again and again, struggling free of those strange black and white thorns twisting about, jump past to attack. All while watching his footwork, so he won’t fall through the cracks.

Until at last, the monster falls and Roxas with it, Darkness reaching up and  _ pulling- _

(He wants!

Reaching, tearing, he  _ wants. _ )

Then, there is no Darkness. 

Only a white room. With a girl in it. 

The blonde, glowing girl from before. 

“Huh?”

The girl puts her fingers to her lips, smiling. “Sh.”

(No. No.  _ No.  _

He bares his fangs, struggles to his feet under the pressure of a million chains. 

Not when he’s gotten so close, not when that Light is  _ finally  _ seeking him. 

Wanting him. 

They can’t take his Light away from him!

He won’t let them. He  _ can’t.  _

Snapping and snarling. Roaring and screeching. A thousand different monstrous shapes and all of them fully  _ him. _

He  _ pulls _ , like he has a million times before. 

But this time...this time, the silver chains  _ snap. _

He nearly topples onto his front, from the sudden lack of pressure to fight against. 

Free.  _ Free.  _ He almost can’t believe it. 

There’s no time to appreciate his sudden escape. Not with his Light moving farther and farther away. 

_ Merging.  _

Without  _ him.  _

He kicks off, upwards to The Light. 

Hisses, “You’re  _ mine,  _ Ventus.”

There will be no getting away this time.)

~

Roxas wakes up in his bed, in his room, with a violent gasp. Nearly rolling off the bed as his chest heaves for breath. 

“I’m...here?”

What? What’s going on? He pats his chest. Everything seems fine and it shouldn’t be. He should be...Roxas swallows. 

But here he is, not dead. Not in that strange white place with the girl. And that stranger who stole the munny. 

No, it’s just him. 

Only him. 

It’s like he never got swallowed up by the silver monsters and their portal. Did it even happen in the first place?

Roxas...doesn’t know. 

He checks his hands, his clothes. Useless. It’s the same as ever. Maybe it didn’t happen? Then...

“What a weird dream.”

Glass and monsters? Maybe he’s just been eating too much ice cream lately. ...Which is impossible. It’s probably something else. 

Get dressed, head down stairs. 

“Don’t forget, Roxas, the Tournament’s today. Have to see you put up a good fight!” The old lady in the lobby calls after him. 

He waves back at her. “Of course I will! Got to win the prize, after all!”

The old lady cackles. “Good luck on that!”

His friends are waiting outside, of course. Olette and Pence cheerfully greet Roxas, while Hayner... Hayner looks away. 

Oh man. Roxas looks away too. It’s...how can he say what really happened, if no one believes him? Just...dreams. Dreams, that’s all. Dreams that somehow mess up his life, so maybe nightmares?

“C’mon, Roxas, the Struggle Tournament is today!” Pence calls out. 

Roxas lifts his head, forcing a smile onto his lips. “Yeah, I’m coming!”

Maybe winning will be enough to drive the questions and confusion out of his head. That’s the hope, at least. 

The Tournament...Roxas didn’t expect the first fight to be between him and Hayner. Maybe he should have.

Everything else in his life seems to be going crazy already, why not this too?

The best he can do is win this Tournament for his friends. 

He lets out a breath. Yeah. He can do this. 

Even with Siefer telling him to beat up Vivi. Which the likelihood of being asked that...well, as likely as pigs flying. Crazy and unbelievable. 

But he can still do this. For his friends.

Until he can’t. Because seriously,  _ Vivi? _

Figures that Vivi would turn out to be one of those monsters. It’s not like everything else is in the process of going terribly wrong. 

“How am I going to fi-”

His struggle bat’s a...Keyblade now?

“Alright.” A shrug. Okay, this just...might as well happen? Okay?

He readies his stance and takes on the monsters. Each one exploding into flashes of blue, of light and dark. But mostly dark. Until they at last stop coming. 

Roxas pants, resisting the urge to drop the Keyblade. His palms are slick. Can’t stop, not yet. What if something  _ else  _ happens?

“Uh, everyone?”

No one’s moving. Why is no one moving?

Clapping. Loud, almost overwhelmingly loud, in the sudden silence of this newly frozen world. When Roxas turns to face the source of the sound, it’s a cloaked figure. The same kind of coat as the guy who stole his munny and shoved him. But clearly different, the shoulders, the hips, the height...none of it matches the other guy. “Roxas, all right. Fight, fight, fight.”

The clapping stops as the figure walks toward him. Completely confident in every movement and somewhat...familiar? But Roxas has never met anyone like this before. 

Roxas frowns, squinting at the figure. Who pauses, midstep. 

“You really don’t remember?” There’s a note of...disappointment, in that voice, with those words. The hood is shoved back by gloved hands, revealing bright red hair and strange brilliant eyes. Not  _ human  _ eyes, with purple teardrops streaked right underneath them on too pale to be healthy skin. Corpse color, almost. “It’s me, Axel.”

“Axel?” He doesn’t know that name. (Yes he does.)

“Talk about blank with a capital B.” Those unnerving eyes keep themselves attached to Roxas’ face. “Man oh man, even the Dusks aren’t gonna crack this one.”

Underneath the man’s hands, spiked metal circles,  _ weapons,  _ spin themselves into existence with crackling flames. An inhuman ability, just as inhuman as the rest of him. 

Roxas knows what they are without being told:  _ chakrams.  _ He  _ should  _ raise his own Keyblade, people don’t just take out weapons without expecting a fight but he just can’t...bring himself to do it for some reason. Not right away. 

“Wait a sec, tell me what’s going?” He steadies himself, ready to fight if he has to. 

“This town is his creation, right?” Axel glances around at the surrounding buildings. “Which means we don’t have time for a Q&A.”

The cat eyes narrow at Roxas, air heating up to nearly unbearable levels. “You’re coming with me, conscious or not. Then you’ll hear the story.” Chakrams rise and fall again, as Axel readies himself to attack. Clearly. 

Yeah, okay.  _ That’s  _ not good. Roxas shakes off his lingering doubts, slowly backs away. He still  _ doesn’t  _ want to fight. 

The air shivers and trembles around them, with something  _ other  _ than a heat haze. Shivering and cracking, like there’s something underneath the air itself. Which is stupid. Right?

“Uh oh.” Axel’s eyes widen with apprehension. 

Roxas shakes his head, looks at the Keyblade. Ever since  _ it  _ showed up, everything’s been different. Monsters showed up!

“What’s going on!?” Throws the weapon, to let it clatter away uselessly. Only for it reappear right in his hand. “What?”

“Number Thirteen. Roxas.”

A shiver in his chest, a burning in his heart at the words. Defining  _ him.  _

Chakrams go up. “The Keyblade’s chosen one!”

Fine.  _ Fine.  _ So this is how it’s going to go?

“Fine, you  _ asked for it!”  _ Roxas swings into action, by swinging his Keyblade. Axel swings back, in a flurry of footwork and sparks. 

And there is  _ fire. Everywhere.  _

“That’s more like it!” Axel almost  _ cheers _ (?), rushing forward in attack only for Roxs to take every blow and bounce back. 

Easy enough to fight him, even with the sweat in Roxas’ eyes and running down his back. Almost as if the guy isn’t putting his all in? Or maybe it’s just that easy.

“Hey, I ring any bells yet?”

“Not in a million years,” Roxas shoots back, for some reason. Parrys another hit and lands a kick to Axel’s midsection, knocking back. Nearly off the edge of the Struggle Platform. The man manages to catch his balance just in time, overreaching with his chakrams to rebalance. 

“Huh, not bad, Roxas.” The scent of burning pine fills the air. “But I got you now!”

Suddenly there’s a barrier. Stopping Axel right in his tracks. The fire stops and dies out entirely.

“What-?”

A flash of...numbers, like whenever the Keyblade’s shown up. A man in red, his face hidden. Roxas can’t help but shiver seeing those orange eyes. Those eyes that look through him like he’s  _ nothing  _ at all. 

“So it  _ was  _ you.”

Flaming chakras fly through the air, straight for the mystery man’s face. Only to be blocked by some invisible...barrier. Like the barrier that must have stopped him from getting Roxas. 

But at least if Axel’s distracted by this guy, he can’t take Roxas away to who knows where. Still, Roxas holds onto the Keyblade. Can’t risk it. 

The masked man completely ignores the attack, turning to face Roxas instead. 

“Roxas, this man speaks nonsense.”

“Roxas, don’t let him deceive you!” There’s something  _ earnest  _ about Axel, as he shouts those words at Roxas. 

“You were going to take me away!” Roxas can’t help but point out, even in the middle of his confusion. 

“None of you are  _ taking anyone.  _ Except me.” A new speaker, rough and confident. Out of nowhere. Literal nowhere, like Axel a couple minutes earlier. 

One as tall as Roxas himself, dressed in a weird bodysuit with red veins on it. Got a skirt to, but that doesn’t seem to stop them from posing confidently as if they have nothing to fear. 

_ Another  _ stranger? Seriously, how many more weirdos are going to show up today?

But looking back at the guy in red, and Axel, they both seem as confused as Roxas is in a way they weren’t before facing each other. 

“Who are you?” Axel demands. His chakrams are back out. Spinning. 

The dark figure’s hand closes around Roxas’ shoulder. A vice. 

“His better half, of course.”

Another hand flings out and in that direction, one of those strange dark holes tears open. 

Oh no. Oh no no. 

Roxas struggles, pushing at the figure. Whose grip does not loosen in response. Only tightens. 

“Hayner, Pence, Olette!” he cries out, to his friends. To his frozen trapped friends.

The red robed man narrows orange eyes and moves his fingers in a strange gesture. 

Axel flings his chakrams at the figure but too late. They somehow manage to both pull and shove Roxas at the same time into the hole. 

“No!”

~

The Dark Corridor doesn’t lead into the Dark like it should. Like Vanitas expects it to. Not exactly. 

It’s a in-between made of numbers and blue. Flashing and bright, a swirl of...  _ everything.  _ Everything annoying in his life, at least. 

And there are golden chains. 

Chains, chains, it’s always chains. Holding him backing,  _ binding  _ him. Or Ventus in this case. Entangling his limbs and coming from the chest, keeping Vanitas from properly claiming what  _ is his.  _

He snarls and  _ pulls.  _ Rake his clawed fingers through the air, releasing plenty of Darkness to rip those connections to  _ shreds.  _ No need for anyone else, for  _ friends,  _ to interfere when he’s so close to becoming whole once more. 

“Back off!” 

Chains  _ break.  _ Shimmering pieces everywhere, like the light of a broken heart. 

_ “-what’s your name?-” _

_ “-You’re stupid!-” _

_ “-the heart may be weak. And sometimes it may give in-” _

_ “-it’s my lucky charm!-” _

_ “Kingdom Hearts is Light!” _

Humph. Memories.  _ Useless  _ memories that don’t belong to either of them. Scattered to the winds now, they don’t matter. Only getting in his way. He reaches, Darkness coming to his call- 

_ Clawing  _ his way out of this in-between, to the  _ real  _ Darkness. And then to his destination, on from there. 

Tugging Ventus along to where this mess will finally be fixed, where everything began and ended last time. 

The Keyblade Graveyard. The place doesn’t look as much of a mess as the last time Vanitas saw it. But that’s probably because his Unversed haven’t been out to screw things up for a while. 

Master Xehanort must have possessed  _ Terra  _ and moved on. If he thinks Vanitas is dead...well, the Keyblade Master has no reason to come to the Keyblade Graveyard incredibly often. If at all. Which gives him time. 

He’ll fight Ventus, make him merge  _ properly  _ this time, get the X-Blade. Easy peasy. Especially since there’s no one else around to interfere, this time. 

His Master will probably show up then, for the X-Blade. But that won’t be a problem, because the X-Blade will be  _ his. _

Now, to Ventus...who isn’t shouting at him? That bright heart trembles, that delicious Light flickering in and out. Under his mask, Vanitas scowls. What’s gone wrong  _ now? _

Ventus shakes. Shivers, as he falls to his knees. His new clothes seem to...fizzle. 

Vanitas prowls closer. 

Has his Light half gone all weak again? Vanitas really doesn’t want to spend  _ more  _ time getting him back up to par. He might as well go find that Aqua to try instead, in that case. If his Master hasn’t already killed the blue haired girl.

Hm, a quick fight should be enough to see how weak Ventus really is now. It’s been a couple months, Vanitas needs a good warm-up too...

He holds out his hand, to summon Void Gear. 

It...doesn’t come. Nothing. He tries again. 

His Darkness flickers and  _ snaps.  _ No Keyblade.  _ Failure.  _ Vanitas resists the urge to tear off his mask, rip at his face, his  _ eyes.  _

He  _ needs  _ his Keyblade. Without it, he’s...

(Nothing.)

His eyes flick over to Ventus. Who looks different. The clothes are different.

Ventus is...wearing a black coat now? Like that coat the Master wore every once in a while.

What? What is going on?

“Who are you?” True and pure confusion as the blue eyes look up at Vanitas. Of course.  _ More  _ memory loss?

Vanitas sneers. “Forgotten me  _ again,  _ Ventus?”

Ventus struggles to his feet. “Look, I’m not who you think I am-”

“Sure you aren’t.”

Blue eyes flash as that familiar face twists into a snarling scowl. Not a Ventus expression at all, not the new Ventus, at least. No, it’s more like...what he pictured himself to be like. Before. 

The kid summons a Keyblade. In his right hand. Vanitas narrows his eyes. Pointed straight at him, not in that backward grip that Ventus  _ always  _ uses. 

(One he used, before his Master taught him otherwise.)

It’s not Wayward Wind either, or any of those other strange Keyblades that Ventus somehow had access to. 

Too plain, too... _ Light. _

Vanitas hisses. That heart...Ventus’ heart is no longer at the forefront, no longer calling him with its obnoxious cry. Suddenly, Vanitas realizes. He doesn’t know what the Ventus in front of him is feeling, unlike every other time. There’s a space in him, a gap that he hadn’t realized existed until now. 

This is...new. A heart he doesn’t know, only partially behind that Keyblade. A Legacy Keyblade then, not one that really belongs to this...not Ventus. 

“Who  _ are you?”  _

(Why do  _ you  _ get to look like me, when I don’t?)

(Did you steal that face?)

“My name is  _ Roxas.” _


	2. It’s All Over For You Chumps (Once I Summon my Keyblade)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas is mildly upset by Roxas not being Ventus. Roxas is mildly upset by the weird things he keeps saying without knowing what they mean.  
> Also, Start of the Roxas-Bowl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for Self Harm. There is going to be a lot of Self Harm in this, due to Vanitas.

“You’re not Ventus.” The faceless person says the sentence with the air of revelation. 

Which Roxas isn’t, of course. He’s not Ventus.

(Not Sora, either.)

He’s only...Roxas. Never anyone else. 

And he’s in a black coat now. A black coat like Axel’s. What does it mean?

(He...doesn’t want it to mean anything. It can’t.)

Roxas swallows, staring at his _kidnapper_ over the Keyblade. He just...wants to go back home. Back to his friends. 

“Take me back,” he demands, thoughts full of his friends, enough to drive him to be brave. 

A scoffing laugh as the figure shakes their head. 

“You seem to think I’ll be letting you go.”

Roxas feels his heart sink. Down to his toes. “But I’m not the person you’re looking for.”

Shouldn’t that be enough for this guy to leave him be?

The stranger shakes their helmeted head. “No, but you still have something that I _want.”_ They take a step closer, seemingly ignoring the Keyblade with the movement. 

“Get _away!_ ” Roxas raises the Keyblade up again, from where his arm had been drifting down from the weight. 

It’s too heavy for some reason. Heavier than it should be. 

(Should be? What does a Keyblade weigh, then?)

The stranger stops. Laughs. A harsh cawing, like that crow Roxas once let go once with-.

With who?

His head hurts. 

His surroundings blur as he brings his hands up to his face. The Keyblade is gone. Faintly, he _knows_ he should have it out still. Especially with his kidnapper trying to get closer, aggressive and... and...

Something. Roxas doesn’t know what. Just... _everything_ is wrong. 

The world is shaking. Or he is, he doesn’t know the difference anymore. 

On the ground, in the dirt, surrounded by rocks. 

“What’s _wrong_ with you?”

The stranger again. Loud and annoying. 

“Hayner, Pence, Olette,” Roxas whispers under his breath. Reminders of what he’s fighting for. 

But why do the names seem so...unfamiliar on his lips?

(Like he doesn’t really know them at all?)

~

The kid looks like Ventus at first glance and at second glance. A careful study reveals some pretty key differences, though. 

He’s...darker, first of all. In more ways than one. 

His blond hair, though with the same spikiness, is more of a bronze compared to Ventus’ bright gold. His skin is darker too, in comparison to the paleness both he and Ventus share. Warm brown, with a kind of sandy undertone. Reminds him of the dirt in the Graveyard, actually. 

His eyes, of course, are blue. What else would they be?

Blue, blue, blue. Why is it always blue?

The bane of his damned existence, blue. 

He should stab this not-Ventus while he’s laying in the dirt and get it all over with. Take what’s his, the heart that Vanitas can feel thrumming away in that still body. 

He’s just so...

_Weak._

Thousand pains and aches through Vanitas’ body. Not as bad as they were, in the end before his and Ventus’ last fight, but they’ll get there eventually. That’s just how this works. Gradually falling apart. 

He can’t. Without a Keyblade, that heart won’t come whole. Undamaged. 

Could always use his claws to rip into that chest, shred and tear, until the heart comes out. But it would be damaged. 

Vanitas isn’t that desperate. 

Not yet. 

What he can do now...is something else. Familiar, like his own always faltering heartbeat. Skipping and in perpetual failure. Barely managing to continue. 

Rip his claws into his own flesh, his own arm. What he’s done a thousand times before. Fling out his own blood and watch it transform under the light of day. Beasts and creatures, clawing themselves into existence. Living aspects of his _annoyance_ with this dumb situation. Blue and red eyed, always twitching _Floods._

(Well, at least that still works.)

His Dark Suit seals up immediately, rather than let any more pieces of himself escape.

The Floods scatter themselves to the winds, across the barren landscape. Vanitas looks up to catch this _Roxas_ staring in...horror. 

Vanitas feels his lips twist into a sneer. _Just_ like Ven, then. Like everyone, when they see the extent of his...monsterdom. Always the horror and disgust paired together. 

Only his Master had been different, watched with calculating interest instead of fear. Already planning on to use this new tool. 

Whatever. It doesn’t matter. It never has. 

“What are _those?”_

Vanitas can’t help but feel offended at that, the emotion boiling under his skin. Surely it hasn’t been _that_ long since the Unversed rampaged across the worlds. But the Kid might be a new Keyblade wielder. Seems to be, by how clueless is he about _everything._

_“Unversed.”_

“...and how did you do that? Make monsters?” The Kid gestures at his arm. 

“My existence is a _curse,”_ Vanitas spits out. “That’s how.”

“That answers none of my questions, thanks.” Ventus-look alike spits back, blue eyes fierce. 

Vanitas lifts his eyebrows. “Sarcasm? From you?”

The Kid’s fingers on his right hand into a fist, by his side. “Look, you keep acting like you know me. And you don’t. I’m _Roxas,_ not anyone else!”

For a moment, Vanitas considers shredding _Roxas’_ throat. See if that will get him to shut up, like threatening Ventus’ _friends_ did for Ventus. 

But no. He can’t hurt the Kid too much, he’s probably running around in _Ventus’_ ( _his_ ) body and that needs to be whole. How did this happen, anyway? Did Venty-Wenty fall asleep _again_ and some ghost shove itself in or something?

Whatever it is, he needs his _damn Keyblade back_ so he can fix this. 

_THWACK._

That’s when he gets blindsided by _Terra_ out of nowhere. 

( _Terra,_ of all people.)

(He’s never going to live this down.)

~

There’s someone in armor attacking the stranger right now. Brown and orange armor, unlike anything Roxas has ever seen before. Tossing them up into the air with a... _Keyblade._ Huge and bulky, very different from the one he uses. 

Honestly, Roxas isn’t exactly sure what he should do about that. _If_ he should do anything. The stranger can make _monsters_ from their body, after all. 

Maybe he should just leave. 

But where would he go? His head is fuzzy and he has the feeling that if he stands up again, he’ll fall over. 

The stranger is dodging around the Keyblade’s attacks, but they can’t keep up that kind of movement for long. Can’t dodge forever. 

“Too slow!” the stranger sing-songs with their rough voice, kicking up their leg as they twist in the air to catch the armor’s helmet. Knocking right it off and revealing...

There’s _no one_ in the armor. 

Oh man. 

Roxas gulps, as the armor keeps fighting despite missing its head. 

It’s the freaky silver monster all over again. 

(Nobody, something in his brain whispers. It’s a _Nobody._ )

(What’s a Nobody?)

The word bangs around in his head like the stranger getting banged around by the suit of armor. Important, somehow, but Roxas doesn’t know how. 

Like being called Number Thirteen by Axel. Axel, _Axel,_ who seems more important than Roxas’ _own friends,_ with how his words stick in his head. 

It’s-

“Annoying!” The stranger calls out. 

Roxas shakes his head, driving the confusing thoughts from his brain. 

The stranger...may be threatening to kill him, but they’re the only person that’s around right now that might know _anything_ that’s going on. To know more, Roxas can’t let the headless armor kill them. 

He rises to his feet and manages, against all odds, swaying, to stay upright. Steps forward, closer and closer, almost tripping over his own feet. Drawing closer to the battle. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” The stranger manages to ask, even as that Keyblade comes awfully close to slicing that masked head off. 

The armor pauses. It might be looking at him, but it doesn’t have a head anymore, so Roxas wouldn’t know. 

“C’mon, we have to get out of here!” Roxas reaches out with one gloved hand and grabs the stranger by the shoulder like they’ve done to Roxas. Focus and _pulls_. Out of here, out of here, somewhere else on the dusty plains. 

_Darkness_ comes at his call, like it had for the stranger. 

But just before that Darkness swallows them up, the stranger digs their hands into their gut. 

“Wait a sec! Here you go!” 

_Shreds_ and the sound it _makes_ \- Roxas can’t help but wince, almost letting go. 

Chunks and goo sprays out, reddish and clear. But not blood. It globs together in what Roxas can only describe as “an angry jellyfish.” Something that Pence would _love_ talking about. 

It floats over to that armor and flails with its pokey tentacles. 

The stranger nods, seemingly satisfied. Their hands squeeze at their middle like they’re trying to keep themselves together. 

“Now!”

Roxas _pulls_ and they’re gone. Together. 

On the other side, they fall out onto more dust and more rock. More...Keyblades, Roxas can’t help but notice now, hundreds stuck in the ground. _Dead._

He can’t help but be sick at where his imagination takes him, how those Keyblades must have gotten here. 

(Dead. Gone _forever._ Like-)

He groans, banging the heel of his head against his forehead. His head-! Aaagh. 

Roxas collapses onto the ground. The stranger does much the same, a couple feet away from him. 

“Uuuuh, why it’d have to be stupid _Terra?”_

~

Vanitas _thinks_ they’re far enough from the Terra-armor, to take a breath or two. But you never know. That Blobmob should be okay for a tiny bit...but not for very long against _that thing._ Will, with no body? _Eeeew._

He should be prepared for another attack to come at any second. 

Vanitas’s eying his arms, determining whether he should risk another slice or not, draw out some more Unversed, when the Ventus-twin speaks up. 

“I can’t stay here!”

Oh, right. _That._ So stupid.

“Do you want to die, dumbass? Because that’s what’s gonna happen to you, if you go back.” To wherever that weird town of numbers was. That red guy with the fire certainly wasn’t there to make nice. 

“Aren’t you going to kill me?” The blond glares at him. Ventus glared at him, a couple times, especially when Vanitas threatened his friends. But this kid...his anger is different somehow. Hotter. 

More like the kid’s going to suddenly attack him. Any other time Vanitas would simply laugh it off, fight the Ventus-look alike and win. But now, without his Keyblade and the fact that the kid has one... It’s threatening in a way weakling Venty-Wenty never managed. 

Vanitas feels the beat of his own pitiful heart pick up in response. He sneers. “Don’t be an idiot. Tearing Ventus’ heart out of you won’t kill you. You have your own.”

“What do you mean, I have my own?” The kid’s blue blue eyes narrow at him, and he raises his hand like he’s about to summon his Keyblade again. “I...don’t have a heart.”

Behind his mask, Vanitas’ eyes narrow. What a dumb thing to say, with no explanation. Yet the Kid seems convinced of it.   
Having no heart? Who heard of something so stupid?

“Well, then you have Ventus’ heart and someone else’s jumping around in your chest.”

“What?” The anger goes away, leaving the familiar face full of confusion. But not for long. 

Vanitas laughs, shaking his head. “No, you idiot. Of course you have a heart. You wouldn’t be talking to me if you didn’t.” 

The Kid still insists on arguing with him. “I can’t have a heart! That’s impossible!”

“Well, I can _feel_ it.” Vanitas pokes him right in the chest. Where the subject of discussion itself rests. Pumping away. Humming incredibly loudly. Much more noisy than Ventus’ is currently. _Bleeding_ Light and Dark and life. “You have a heart. Stop lying.”

The Kid puts a hand on his chest. “ _What._ But, but that would mean...”

He bends over, head going in his hands. 

Vanitas doesn’t care what kind of realization the Ventus-lookalike is having. Only that he’s distracted and a perfect target in the process. Vanitas tries for his Keyblade again.

Fails. 

He punches the ground with his still empty hand. 

What is he, without his Keyblade? Barely even a monster, that’s what. A Keyblade’s what made him special. _Useful._

Without it...he’s just a step above Heartless. One of his own Unversed.

“Someone, they _lied_ to us.” Kid sounds shocked by that, for some reason, hand on his head as he sits upright again. Then he shakes his head. “Of course he did...who lied?”

“Why are you so surprised? People lie to each other all the time, it’s what they do.” Vanitas’ gloved hand rubs against the ground. Scratching at the rocky earth, tracing meaningless patterns. 

“Who lied to you?”

His hand pauses. Slowly, Vanitas looks up to meet blue eyes. _Curious_ blue eyes. Yet another difference between him and Ventus. Ventus was all too happy to take all of his _friends’_ words at face value. Never asking, never _really_ curious. Not about the Dark. Not about anything outside his _friends._

Vanitas had to practically force feed him their shared past.

“Who said anyone lied to me? It’s none of your business.”

“Well, you said everyone lies to each other. So who lied to you?” The Kid repeats. 

“It doesn’t matter,” Vanitas snaps.

“Matters to you.”

 _Void_ , he’s so _annoying._ Too bad Vanitas can’t just rip out Ventus’ heart and be done with his Light’s clone. 

Maybe if Vanitas answers him, he’ll stop asking. Stop being irritating.

“My _Master_ ,” Vanitas snarls. Hissing and growling like one of his Unversed. “Told me if I forged the X-Blade, I would be whole, but...”

His right hand goes up to his chest. Scratching and clawing at the red vein patterns there, on his Dark Suit. 

As if he could tear out his weak, half heart, and start over. Escape what he is. 

“I’m not.”

Not whole. Not _enough._

“Oh.”

Through the darkened glass of his helmet, Vanitas squints at the kid. That ‘oh,’ what does it mean?

Whatever it means, it seems to mean at this point, the Kid will stop asking questions. Sit there silently. Thinking. 

Which leaves space for Vanitas himself to figure out what to do next. 

He can’t leave the Kid behind. That has been made very clear, with the weird redhead that showed up, claiming to know the Kid, and the people Vanitas stole the Kid from will probably want him back.

Vanitas leaves Kid, Kid will get himself stolen by someone else. 

So Vanitas has to stay with Kid. Ugh. 

Or take Kid with him. 

Too risky to stay here, especially with Terra’s crazy armor around here. 

Vanitas stands, roughly grabbing at Kid’s shoulder. Kid yelps at the sudden contact, jerking and struggling to pull free. Too bad for him, Vanitas is stronger. 

“C’mon. We need to get out of here.”

“Let go of me!”

“No.”

Pulls Kid up. Then lets go, as soon as he’s on his feet. No need to touch him more than necessary, no need to feel Ventus’ warm warm heart. Just in reach and out of it at the same time. 

Unbearable. 

He should rip the Kid’s head off for daring to carry Ventus’ heart. But if he did that, Vanitas wouldn’t get that warm heart. 

Choices, choices. 

It’s so _hard_ to hold back from tearing him apart. Like dealing with Ventus for the first time after _years_ apart and nearly killing him from impatience and rage. Maybe that mouse was good for something after all. Other than as a hostage. 

“Why should I go with _you?”_ The Kid’s eyes narrow at him.

Vanitas scoffs, folding his arms over his chest. “Do you know _anything_ about traveling between worlds?”

“Of course I do! I’ve done it before!”

Hm. That’s more of a problem. But judging by the coat he’s wearing, the coat that’s the same as the red-haired attacker from earlier...

“Anywhere those other people in black don’t know about?”

At that, the Kid looks away. “...No.” Ha. 

“I do.” 

Probably. 

He’s been to a lot of places, unleashing Unversed, doing whatever errand his Master saw fit to send him on. Vanitas can definitely find somewhere these people won’t find them. And then...

Well, he’ll figure it out. 

“You’re coming with me,” Vanitas says out loud. The decision is already made, but...hey, he needs to let the Kid know before getting impaled. 

“What? No!”

Vanitas tilts his head. “Have any _better_ ideas?”

Blue eyes narrow even more, as the Kid thinks through the possible options. He nods once and opens his mouth. 

“...What’s your name, anyway?”

At that, Vanitas can’t help but stare. Then he laughs, throwing his head back. Can feel the heat of Red Hot Chilis bubbling under his skin now. Begging to come out and play.

 _That’s_ what he wants to know? His _name?_ Heh. 

(No one’s _ever_ wanted to know that before.)

“Vanitas,” he finally says, once he’s shoved down both Unversed and the laughter. “That’s what I’m called.”

~

The monster is easy enough to slay, without its master behind it. Even with its jelly-like form splitting over and over again into smaller pieces of the original, each one just as intent as the first to destroy their enemy. 

They all fall, in the end. As everyone does. 

The Lingering Will sets its helmet back where it belongs and almost wails, with the voice it does not have. 

_VenVenVenVenVen._

Ven is here. Here among the dead, very much _alive._

It can feel him burning in its chestplate. Not as hot as the rage that keeps it going, but different enough to _know._

He’s here and...the Enemy is too. 

Not _XehanortXehanortXehanort_ , but the smaller one, that one who serves _Xehanort._ Gone with Ven. Vanished like Xehanort did. 

But back. With Ven close enough that it couldn’t use any of its more serious attacks without possibly hurting him. 

Back and gone again. In the Dark. With the Dark. 

Its gloved hand tightens around its Keyblade. 

It’s waited here so long, for Xehanort to return. To strike back and wipe him off the face of the universe. 

No matter the price that must be paid. Xehanort must be stopped. 

But if _Ven_ needs it...

It will find a way. 

It will find _him._

No matter the cost. 

It rises to its feet once more, cape flapping around it in the sparse air. Tapping Keyblade against the devouring earth. 

Ven. Yes. It will find _Ven._

~

Namine checks Sora’s heart for the tenth time. Mental fingers tracing along the broken chains, hoping against hope that she’s wrong. No use, it’s still the same it’s been the last two times. 

She lets out a breath as she opens her eyes and chooses her words carefully. 

“The memories...they’re _gone._ ”

“ _What?!”_ DiZ hisses. Namine flinches. “How is that possible?”

Her fingers tap at her sketchbook as she parses the truth out word by word. With all the caution and careful thought she can manage to put into it. 

“Something...broke out, and scattered the memories when it did. Everywhere.”

“What broke out?” Riku asks, in that new deep voice Namine is trying to get used. Which is hard, when he doesn’t speak very often. Not that he really did in the first place, but he’s even more quiet now. 

Namine shakes her head. “I...don’t know. It’s Dark, whatever it is. Like...a Heartless, almost.” What she can tell from Sora’s memories of them, at least. Hungry and desperate, ripping through the protections in Sora’s heart like a knife through paper. 

Leaving him terribly, dreadfully exposed. 

“And this is the stranger?” Riku questions. 

Namine nods. 

“What do we do?” Riku turns towards her more fully. Begging for answers, almost. 

Namine twists her fingers together. “Maybe, if you got Roxas back...I could get the memories back that way?” 

She doesn’t know. Something like this should have never happened. If she could be afraid, she would be. Afraid that Sora would now never wake up. An emotion Riku must surely be experiencing. 

“Whatever it is, it must be stopped and Roxas returned.” DiZ rises to his feet. “Ansem?” His mouth twists as he says the name, but Namine thinks she’s the only one noticing that. 

“Yes?”

“Follow me.” They leave the room. Both of them. Leaving Namine to her neverending work. 

Now that they’re gone...

She returns to her sketchbook, to her newest picture in process. 

A monster, shaped like a boy, dripping shadows all down the page, with eyes as red as blood. Shadows that look like monsters. Underneath, she sketches the start of something far more pleasant and familiar peeking out from behind those dark creatures. A boy with blond hair, blue eyes. Smiling.

“I hope you’re okay, Roxas.”

~

“We can’t kill Roxas! Not when someone kidnapped him!”

“What’d you mean, someone kidnapped him? I thought we were only people doing that!”

“Some person in a mask, and a lot of Darkness. I couldn’t see their face.”

“And they took our Thirteenth away?”

“Disappeared just like that!”

“Retrieve him at once.”

“And the masked guy?”

“Dispose of them.”


	3. What Are These Kids? (We Just Don’t Know)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas knows what he is, but does Roxas? Further disagreements lead to further harm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings for: more self-harm. Blood. Someone seriously hurting someone else, in mimicry of their own self harm, in attempts to help them. Bad Medical Care (lack of?). Cliffhanger.
> 
> ...such an odd world for this to be taking place in.

Roxas doesn’t know what to feel, after seeing Vanitas poke holes in their own arm with one sharp-looking finger. Squeezing out... jellyfish? Jellyfish with faces. Not as big as the first one, that they left to fight the armor, but small wiggly ones. Barely the size of Roxas’ palms. 

Wiggling and slowly inflating themselves, as they all float upwards. Until the jellyfish look the size of someone’s head. Or bigger. 

It’s sorta hard to tell, when the jellyfish all float off into the sky. Far out of reach. 

All Roxas can do right now is sit there and blink a bit. Trying to figure things out without drawing too much attention. Not until he knows what he wants to ask about, at least. 

People don’t normally bleed monsters, he’s pretty sure. Knows  _ that  _ much. 

What  _ is  _ Vanitas? 

Is he anything like the stranger calling himself Axel? Odd and clearly not human as well. His gut tells him  _ no.  _

What Vanitas is, it’s not like whatever Axel may be. Axel, who might find him again. Roxas can’t help but shiver at the thought. 

(Why does it matter? What does  _ Thirteen  _ mean?)

“What are they doing?” Roxas asks, pointing up at the floating, disappearing jellyfish. 

Vanitas scoffs. It’s...interesting, how expressive they manage to be without a face. Something about the body language and tone of the voice?

“Scouting.” The  _ of course  _ behind that goes unspoken. 

“Ah,” Roxas hums. Makes sense, to check which world to go to next. And that means the monsters are connected to Vanitas in some way? 

It’s  _ strategy,  _ like Pence would always say cheerfully, all about the strategy. Itching at his brain. Not really fitting, for some reason. 

Roxas pulls at his coat sleeves, frowning. He’s still missing something here. 

But what is he missing?

While Vanitas is doing...whatever, Roxas can think about that. Yeah. That’s a good idea. 

~

Scouting, for Vanitas, is simple. Send dozens and dozens of Jellyshade, full of pained rejection, out into the In-Between, the Ways. 

Feel them pop, one by one, as they eventually run into monsters more they can handle in their clusters. Rejection rushing back into his veins, forcing him to take quick breaths. Reminders of everything he lost to  _ Ventus.  _

Whichever is left...well, use that Jellyshade as a connection to get to whatever world it managed to get to. 

Simple. Straightforward. With the added bonus of stoking his rage and hate to use as Unversed fuel later. Easier to follow Ventus and his stupid friends, of course. Or go wherever his Master directed him. But beggars can’t be choosers. 

In that time, though, he can think. Ask important questions. Not out loud, of course. 

Questions like...

What is  _ Roxas _ ?

Who in the Void goes around thinking they don’t have a heart?  _ Everyone’s  _ got a heart. 

Even Vanitas himself has a heart. A crippled one, but still a heart. 

Only morons and fools think they don’t have hearts. Even  _ Ventus  _ knew he had a heart. And even if that were possible, having no heart...Kid has a Keyblade. You  _ need  _ a strong heart for that. 

The Master must have found some new idiots to toy with. No  _ way  _ the Kid having both a Keyblade and Ventus’ heart in his own is an accident. 

The smart thing to do would be to find the Black Coats, hand the Kid over to them. They probably work for his Master, using Darkness like that. Master Xehanort would be pleased, and might even overlook Vanitas’ failure to forge the X-Blade. 

That would be the smart thing to do. 

Vanitas hisses. 

No  _ way  _ he’s doing that. 

Probably stupid...no, definitely stupid. But there’s a seething rage inside of him, threatening to burst out of him in a particularly nasty Unversed. He doesn’t  _ want  _ to give the Kid and Ventus’ heart over to his Master. He wants to be whole  _ now.  _

And he can’t. Not without his Keyblade. 

But...

Vanitas narrows unseen eyes at the Kid, who’s busy poking at rocks. The Kid has his own heart. If Vanitas convinced him somehow to use his Keyblade...well, the Kid could hand over that very quiet heart to Vanitas. Allowing for a merging. 

Without a fight, of course, there will be no X-Blade. But Vanitas doesn’t  _ need  _ a X-Blade to become whole if he has Ventus’ Light and if the Kid stays with him...well, his Master wouldn’t be able to get Vanitas back with his lies and useless promises then. 

_ Perfect.  _

Enough time has passed, rejection surging in his chest. They should leave now. Vanitas stands up. “Get up.”

The Kid jerks in place, tilting his head up to look at Vanitas. “What, now?”

“Of course  _ now. _ ” Stupid questions. Maybe he should kick the Kid or something. Shove him into the dirt. Unfortunately, before he can get the chance, the Kid scrambles to his feet. 

Vanitas shoves down what is totally not disappointment and waits. Tapping his foot. Just  _ waiting  _ for another stupid question. 

The Kid doesn’t disappoint. “So where are we going?”

Hm. Where  _ are  _ they going?

There aren’t as many choices as Vanitas had half-expected. A lot has changed in a few months. More than he thought possible. 

What had his Master been  _ doing? _

Most of the worlds he’s been to before, spreading the Unversed...are gone. Fallen to Darkness. Or moved to somewhere else he can’t quite reach. 

There’s one place they could go, that’s still around, that his surviving Jellyshade is currently orbiting. (Of course it’s still around, no way a world like  _ that  _ would fall to Darkness.) A place that’s really, really awful. Too bright, too colorful, too  _ Light.  _ But it would be the last place anyone who knows him would expect him to be. 

So Disney Town it is. 

“Just stay close,” Vanitas instructs the Kid. Opens a Dark Corridor, with a wave. Leading to the  _ awfulness  _ that awaits them both. Ugh. 

“Uh, okay?”

~

The world is called  _ Disney Town.  _ Roxas hasn’t been to worlds other than Twilight Town and the weird dust place (he thinks, at least), but this world is so unlike either of those that it’s impossible to think he could forget coming here at some point. 

“It’s...” Roxas struggles for the right words. A description that could capture the absolute  _ fantastic  _ colors everywhere, the strange animal people walking around, the odd shapes of the buildings.

“Bright?” Not really the best word, but it  _ does  _ describe how the place hurts his eyes. 

Vanitas places their hands on their hips as they look their surroundings over, taking a rather angry stance in the process. “It is,” they agree grimly. “Ugh.”

One hand removes itself from a hip, going up to Vanitas’ neck. The base of that strange nothing face. Those fingers, those  _ claws  _ get sharper. About to tear and rip in a way Roxas would  _ really  _ not like to see again. 

“Wait!” Roxas catches Vanitas’ hand, before the claws can start digging into their neck. 

Vanitas pauses. Too still. 

Suddenly, Roxas feels like he’s just walked in front of the Twilight Town trolley. About to be smashed into paste. He swallows. Doesn’t loosen his grip. “You shouldn’t have more of your Unversed out.”

That hand that Roxas holds onto, slowly curls into a fist. “Why not.”

“Well, then they-” Roxas waves his other hand at the strange people below, “-will know we’re here. The Unversed are only  _ yours,  _ right?”

“That’s...true.” The conclusion comes out of Vanitas slowly. Painfully. Like they hate to say it. Which was probably the case. “Fine. Let go.”

“You won’t do it?” Roxas persists. Just to be sure... They have to  _ blend in.  _ That’s how Missions work. You can’t have  _ anyone  _ know you’re there, or you’ve screwed up. 

(Missions? When did he do anything like that?)

“I will not. Let  _ go. _ ” 

Roxas quickly releases the wrist before Vanitas rips free themselves. That blank faceless head turns towards him, and just...feels like a glare. A long,  _ awful  _ glare. Roxas looks away first and Vanitas gives out a huff in response. 

“We need to find a base,” Roxas decides. Somewhere like the Usual Place, calm and out of the way, a location that the animal-people wouldn’t visit too often. 

Maybe a place less bright? The animal-people seemed to like bright rainbow colors, so a place with more dark colors would probably be less common for them to hang around. 

Vanitas seems to have come here before, so...

“Any ideas?”

Vanitas jerks in place, like they’re surprised to be asked. Weird. Why  _ wouldn’t  _ Roxas ask them what they know?

He’s  _ always  _ done that with- with-

His head fizzles, as Roxas shakes it. Returning to the present. To Vanitas speaking. 

“What?”

“About where to go that we won’t run into anyone.”

“Ah, I might know somewhere.” Vanitas flicks their fingers at Roxas, moving to the edge of the building. Again they seem surprised when Roxas quietly follows them over. 

A claw points over at a round circle in the ground, one that Roxas has to squint to see. “Over there. They don’t usually go underground.”

Ah. “That’s a good idea...but how do we get over there?”

“A distraction would be the best way.” Vanitas’ hand goes up to their neck again. 

Roxas starts squinting at  _ them  _ this time. This again? “We don’t  _ need  _ Unversed.”

“Says  _ you _ ,” Vanitas mutters, almost too quiet for Roxas to catch. 

Um. That’s weird. Does being a whatever Vanitas is mean they need to have Unversed around? That’s  _ really  _ weird. 

And....Roxas recalls that moment, of Vanitas  _ ripping  _ into their stomach-

He can’t help but shiver. Awful. 

“It’s the best way.” With that, Vanitas pinches at the base of their throat where the shoulder goes up to meet it. Pinches until Roxas can  _ hear  _ the tearing, see the blood drip. All over Vanitas’ gloved hand and down to the side, a bit. 

Roxas forces down the bile rising in his throat. 

The black blood wiggles and  _ jumps _ into the air, in the form of ugly gray birds. Three of them, with red patterns on their wings and also serving as eyes. One of the birds caws, violently flapping its wings. 

Vanitas flaps a bloody hand back. “Get going.”

They do, flapping noisily as they dive at the animal-people below. There’s screaming. Vanitas turns to Roxas, jerking a thumb in the direction of the covered hole. “We can go now.”

Roxas hesitates. Glances down from the roof at the rest of the area. Where the birds are harassing a horse-guy who seems pretty scared. 

Should he do something? 

( _ Hero of the Keyblade... _ )

“C’mon. We gotta get out of here.”

Roxas shakes his head. “Yeah. Right.”

A quick hop down, some running, and they make it through the hole without anyone appearing to see them. 

The underground tunnels are still bright, and have weird  _ hands  _ moving around to gears turning, but Vanitas is right. No one is down there. 

Only the two of them. Just Roxas and Vanitas. Again. 

Roxas lets out a breath. He doesn’t  _ want  _ to say this, not to Vanitas, but he really should. 

(The last time you let things go unspoken...)

His head aches. 

“Vanitas, those Unversed are going to get us noticed.”

Vanitas huffs. “No, they won’t.”

“Yes, they will.” Roxas glares. Stupid. He should have said no to the distraction. Even if Vanitas would do it anyway, he should have still said no. 

“No, they won’t.”

For a second, Roxas considers freezing Vanitas in place with a Blizzard. Probably wouldn’t last very long and Vanitas would try to kill him afterwards. 

But it would make that... _ frustration  _ go away, at least. For a little bit. 

“Fine.” Roxas stomps a foot and turns around, to go further down the tunnel. Away from Vanitas. Sits down at the end. 

Vanitas doesn’t follow him. Instead they sit down at the end of their tunnel. Probably glaring at Roxas like Roxas is doing to them, with the eyes they don’t have. 

Stupid. 

Man, he misses his friends. And ice cream. But mostly his friends. 

His friends-

What? His friends-

Roxas frowns, squishing up his face in deep thought. Their names are-

(Axel. ____.)

Hayner. Pence. Olette. 

Yeah. That’s right. It has to be right. 

(What else would they be?)

~

Things would be so much easier if Vanitas could just skip to the “getting Ventus’ heart” part of this. 

But  _ nooo _ , he has to stick around and hope that his Keyblade will come back. Or the Kid will choke and die, leaving Ventus’ heart around for him. 

Hm. 

His Archravens haven’t come back yet. He’s still bleeding, wet against his neck and trailing down his suit. Nearly invisible, due to coloring, of course. Still there. 

_ Maybe  _ he should be concerned. Just  _ maybe.  _ He fights down the Mandrakes threatening to pop out at that, no need to add more Unversed to the mix. 

Vanitas, well, he doesn’t  _ hope  _ that the inhabitants of this world can kill a couple Archravens. With lack of Darkness and overall negativity, the Archravens don’t really have a chance to develop into the bigger Unversed like the Trinity Armor or the Mimic Master. 

But if they stick around too long...Vanitas pulls up his legs, leaning more against the wall. Then the Unversed will draw attention. And then, worse of all, the Kid  _ would be right  _ in saying Vanitas shouldn’t use Unversed. 

Maybe he should call them down here. Finish them off, reabsorb. 

(Not prove the Kid right.)

They could do it. 

That’s the plan, at least. Until there’s a spitting out. Vanitas looks over to see the Kid suddenly spitting... _ something  _ all over the ground. He stands. Walks over. 

The Kid’s gagging. Shaking. Really really pale. Something clearly wrong with him. 

Too bad Vanitas can’t do any Cures. He’s  _ awful  _ at them. (At least without a Vile Phial he is.)

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Vanitas demands. 

The Kid grimaces, shaking his head. Shaking his entire body. “I...don’t know!”

Vanitas grabs around the Kid’s wrists. Pulls him up onto his feet. Tightens his grip around those same wrists. “Stop doing that!” 

Things would be easier if he could slit the Kid’s wrists and have whatever bad emotion that’s making him like this slide out. Things would be a  _ lot  _ easier if all people were like Vanitas, with Unversed. Easier to understand, at least. 

Vanitas contemplates cutting into the Kid’s wrists anyway. Couldn’t hurt, right? Kid would probably try to kill him, like the blue haired witch did, but at least he would be doing that and not...not this  _ weird shaking.  _

He digs his claws in, lengthening them, sharpening them. 

The Kid lets out a pained groan in response. “Stop-!” A heavy boot to the leg. Almost drives Vanitas away. Dig  _ deeper.  _

Draw the blood out. 

Draw the  _ emotion  _ out. 

Until it comes, all warm and dark on his hands. But not red, like he was expecting. Red like it _should have been_ , for a real person. 

“What the hell-?” Black blood.  _ Black  _ blood. Like Vanitas’. All over his hands. What?  _ What? _

Vanitas can’t help his weak heart quickening at the sight. Almost  _ warm.  _ As warm as the blood still dripping from his throat. 

“You’re...” He breathes. Not like him. But  _ almost.  _ “What are you?”

~

Pull his hands  _ free _ , don’t want Vanitas hurting him- !

Roxas looks at the black blood trickling from his now uncovered wrists and feels his heart sink. 

The heart he shouldn’t have. 

Nobody, Nobody,  _ Nobody.  _

(That’s what you are. Have always been.)

(“Nobodies don’t bleed the way Somebodies do. Wrong color, wrong everything.”)

“I’m a Nobody.” With those words, Roxas can feel his entire world crashing down. He’s never lived in Twilight Town. Visited, yes. Lived there, never. He’s been to a dozen different worlds, hunting Heartless. 

Hunting Heartless for...for...the people in black. Black coats like his. 

He doesn’t know. Not yet. 

His friends...not Hayner, Pence, or Olette. Someone else. But who?

“A Nobody,” Vanitas muses, “What’s that?”

“People without hearts. I shouldn’t have a heart,” Roxas says, eyes still on his cuts. The cuts that  _ Vanitas  _ gave him. 

His existing heart gives a lurch. 

“That’s impossible.”

“It’s what I am.” Impossible. Roxas curls his hands into fists, staring down at them. Slowly, he raises his head. Up to look at Vanitas. Who seems... _ pleased,  _ body language loose in way he’s only see in...

(Xigbar.)

His fist clenches. Thumb outside the fist, like...someone showed him. 

Focus. 

Move. 

_ Hits.  _ As hard as he can, with every bit of his inhuman strength.  _ Crunch! _

_ Right  _ in Vanitas’  _ smug  _ featureless face. 

“The  _ fuck _ was that  _ for?!”  _ Vanitas screeches, hand going up to their...broken face?

“You cut me!” Roxas yells back. “I told you to stop!”

“I was helping!” They protest. “You remember what you are, don’t you!?”

Shards, like the dark glass of the Castle That Never Was, drop with quiet  _ clinks _ against the floor. 

Roxas shakes. Not with fear, but with  _ pure rage.  _ “You. Don’t. Touch. Me.” Stalks forward, Vanitas scrambling back, gloved hands still covering the hole. 

“ _ Never,”  _ he growls, the noise coming from somewhere deep in his gut. 

“Fine, fine! I won’t, I won’t, I  _ promise!”  _ Vanitas whines. Finally the hands go down, raised as if to surrender. Through that hole, Roxas can see a deep red eye blink, surrounded by pale pale skin. Surprisingly human, behind what Roxas can only assume is a mask. 

More pieces of glass fall off, revealing more of the face. 

Vanitas snarls. “Look what you’ve done! Now I need to redo it!”

Roxas peers closely. That face, what he can see of it...

His heart (his impossible hearts) twists. 

He  _ knows  _ that face, though he’s never seen it before. Not in person. With different coloring, but still-

“...Sora?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *curls up in the corner and starts crying* This was supposed to be crack...


	4. Break the Mirror (Get Glass in Your Knuckles)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roxas demands answers. Vanitas demands for the world to make sense again.   
> Only one gets what they want.

“Who the fuck is Sora?”

Vanitas has never liked the new face he somehow got, from after the split. Tried to cut it off, more than once. See if he could find his  _ real  _ face underneath. All unsuccessful attempts and ending with waking up to his Master standing over him, staring down disapprovingly. 

To find that someone else has this face too, and the Kid knows them...well. 

That’s something brewing inside Vanitas, that’s for sure. 

Tempting, to cut himself open, to find what that brewing thing is. But later. Later after he’s gotten his answers. 

The Kid looks confused by Vanitas’ response. “He’s...” Searches for words, to explain what is obvious. To him, at least. “He’s my Somebody. Somebodies are the people before they became Nobodies, but...”

A frown, pinching that familiar face. 

“I still exist. Even while Sora does. I  _ know  _ I do. He’s my...”

“Your other half,” Vanitas finishes for him. 

Because of course that’s what it is. Vanitas can feel his cheeks stretching as he bares his fangs. He’s not sure if he’s grinning or grimacing with the expression. Maybe both. 

His Master...having seen his first failure, went and did  _ another  _ split. One more complete than the last, a heart from a body, instead of Light from Dark. 

Making this...Nobody, standing before Vanitas. 

Who now has a heart of his own. 

They’re alike, this Roxas and himself. Even with Ventus’ heart hidden inside, Roxas is more like Vanitas than his Light half ever was. The rejected part (for what use is a body without heart?). Bleeding Darkness. 

Vanitas...doesn’t know what to think about that. 

Only that he’s been replaced. 

Not...exactly a surprise, with Vanitas’ failure to forge the X-Blade to keep in mind. But there’s still an ache under his collarbone, at that thought. 

How long did the Master wait, before deciding to wait for Vanitas no longer? 

“What can Nobodies do?” They can’t make monsters like he can, judging by how still Roxas’ blood is. Empty of the life Vanitas’ blood  _ screams  _ and stretches into. So what other things can they do, with the Darkness running in their veins?

“What? You’re just going to accept that  _ now?”  _ Frustration, for some reason. “After saying that people without hearts don’t exist?”

“But you do have a heart,” Vanitas points out. “And you call yourself a Nobody. What can you do?”

What would the Master want of you?

(Why would he replace me?)

“I...I hunted Heartless. With my Keyblade.” Still confusion, but answers now too. 

At that, Vanitas can’t help but frown. That seems...there’s potential here, that’s not tapped at all by putting Roxas to hunting Heartless. Sure, Keyblades are  _ meant  _ for that, but Heartless haven’t wandered the worlds since...well, the Keyblade Wars that Master Xehanort went on and on about. 

To be hunting  _ only  _ Heartless and no mentions of anyone else with a Keyblade...that’s different. What exactly happened when Vanitas was trapped?

“Huh.”

Blue eyes sharpen in a fierce glare, full of fire. “You didn’t care before. Why does it matter so much  _ now _ , asshole?”

A raised fist. A threat that promises more broken glass. And maybe a broken nose, even. Fierce. Much stronger than  _ Ventus  _ ever dared to be, outside for his friends. 

Some disappointment, that Roxas isn’t the other half of him. Vanitas thinks that wildness would be more useful than mere Light. More  _ fun,  _ at least. 

A fight between the two of them would  _ hurt _ and Vanitas can’t help the quickening of his heart at the thought. His fangs dig into his tongue and he can taste the salty sweetness of his blood, as it threatens to become Unversed right then and there. The taste of his failure, of his filthy existence. 

He laughs. Loud and hard, curling up from the force of it, splattering the blood from his bitten tongue everywhere. 

The droplets scatter into Red Hot Chilis, escaping into the dark underground with steaming and high pitched chuckles much like their master’s. 

Roxas’ eyes squint in confusion. “What? What’s so funny?” He demands, confusion turning to anger. 

There’s a Keyblade out now, right under Vanitas’ chin. Different from before, Vanitas can’t help noticing, silvery with a blue-yellow star design on the end that’s currently poking into him. 

A lot like the Keyblade that Ventus used, that final battle, the last day. 

(Why is  _ everything  _ like that day? Why can’t he move on?)

“You’re my replacement,” Vanitas chokes out. “Master Xehanort made  _ you _ after I failed.”

The next question comes completely unexpected.

“Who’s Xehanort?”

“Who’s  _ Xehanort?”  _ Vanitas repeats, incredulous. He pushes the Keyblade away from his neck and Roxas lets him. Carefully watching, of course, but allows Vanitas that much. “He’s my  _ Master,  _ he made me and he must have made you too, if you’re from a split heart.”

Especially with Roxas carrying Ventus’ heart. Coincidence? No way. 

“I’ve never heard of him. Um...does he know the Superior at all?”

Superior? That sounds like a title his Master would take on. Vanitas shakes his head. Let’s see where Roxas goes with this. 

~

The Superior...memories come in spurts and stops. But enough comes that Roxas can picture him clearly in his mind. But why does  _ Vanitas  _ want to know? Maybe an explanation will provide an answer for why he  _ looks like Sora.  _ And if not...well, Roxas has the Keyblade. Vanitas doesn’t.

Roxas lowers his Keyblade from Vantias’ throat, brain whirling. “The Superior’s name is Xemnas.”

Through the shattered glass, red eyes narrow at him. Alive and all too bright. Right in his face. 

“So, what’s your leader look like? This Xemnas guy?”

“Um...” Roxas racks his brain, searching for the words to properly describe the shadow that hung over his life for so long. “He’s got skin darker than mine, silver hair and yellow eyes. And he uses big words.” Lots of big words, most of them Roxas doesn’t get at all. 

“Hah.” Vanitas folds his arms over his chest, smug in his victory. “That’s what Master Xehanort looked like and did, so your Master is my Master.”

A frown, as Vanitas briefly hesitates. “Silver hair...?”

“Long silver hair.” Roxas gestures to his shoulder. “That long.”

“Huh. My Master was bald...” Vanitas’ frown grows deeper. 

“Maybe they aren’t the same, then?” Roxas poses.

Vanitas shakes his head. “Nuh-uh. Master Xehanort had a silver beard, so the rest of the description matches.”

“Where’d the hair come from, then?”   
“Huh.” But that sounds like a realization huh, not a clueless one, like Roxas usually ends up going with. “Guess it went through, after all.”

The next part is a mutter, one Roxas barely catches. “Even if I screwed up.”

“Went through.” Roxas repeats, gloved fingers rubbing along his Keyblade’s hilt. Along  _ Oathkeeper’s  _ hilt. He lifts the weapon again, this time to point right at Vanitas’ chest. “And?”

“And what? It doesn’t matter to  _ you _ , you’re not  _ Ventus,  _ didn’t you say that?” Those words are almost a spit, a gargling noise that Roxas can’t help but wince at. No more blood monsters, please. 

“I could kill you,” Roxas says quietly. It’s a thought he’s never spoken out loud, never considered. Not for long, anyway. But it  _ is  _ something he’s thought before, an inevitable when you’re surrounded by people who don’t hesitate at all to tell you what never coming back from Castle Oblivion means. 

(When ____ comes back bleeding and no one seems to care.)

He knows death.  _ Axel  _ seemed ready to kill him, from the Organization. (And why does that hurt?) 

Roxas could kill Vanitas, right now. No one would care. 

His Keyblade is steady, but his thoughts, less so. No one would care...but Roxas would. 

(Who would care if you killed a simple replica?)

(Who would care if you defended yourself, survived?)

No, he doesn’t want to kill Vanitas. But a threat will work just as well, even without Roxas planning to carry it out. 

Inexplicably, there’s a grin stretching out across that pale face in response to that threat. “You have more guts than Ventus  _ ever  _ did.” Why smile? Smiling is supposed to be happy, for Somebodies, Roxas recalls faintly. What’s happy about this?

Ventus, Ventus. For Vanitas, it all goes back to this Ventus, that he claims Roxas looks like. Roxas’ hand tightens around the Keyblade. He steps closer, Oathkeeper touching Vanitas’ strange veiny-covered chest. Digging in, slightly. Ready to pierce. 

(But not really. Just a threat, just a threat.)

“Fine, fine, I’ll tell you! The Master,  _ Xehanort _ ...he...” 

Suddenly, Roxas is  _ very  _ sure he doesn’t want to know the answer. But he listens. He  _ has  _ to know. 

(When everyone has refused to tell me  _ anything _ for so long...)

“He took a new body. This Xemnas...it  _ must  _ be that new body of his. All shiny and new.” A sneer, leaning towards a darker emotion than the arrogance Vanitas showed earlier. 

“No.” The word breaks free of Roxas. Thoughtless, drawn out from the area of his chest. 

Vanitas scrunches his eyebrows together. “No?”

“A new body...who did he take?” Something screams inside of Roxas, a jump in his gut, that this body...wasn’t just a body. 

(Anymore than ____ was just a...just a...)

Vanitas’ eyes narrow. The pleasure slides off, leaving an unfamiliar cold emotion in its place. Every expression so very different from the flat mask Roxas had been talking to all this time. 

“Who’s speaking? You or Ventus?”

“I’m  _ Roxas. _ ” Oathkeeper stabs forward, just enough to tear past the “armor” on Vanitas’ chest. Not enough to draw blood. 

Not yet, at least. 

Vanitas scoffs. “Well,  _ Roxas,  _ you wouldn’t care. Because you’re not  _ Ventus.”  _ The emphasis on the names...they’re different, for each name. Roxas doesn’t know  _ how  _ he can tell, just that he can. That hate and barely controlled rage surrounds Ventus’ name and his own...interest. A “listen to me” kind of voice.

“Fine,” Roxas allows, “But that doesn’t explain Sora. Why you look like him.”

Vanitas’ face screws up, in a rage Roxas somehow knows (though he’s never met his Other, before) that Sora could never manage to match. Full of bitterness. 

“How the fuck should I know? Why do you look like Ventus? Who  _ the fuck knows.” _

He surges forward, stabbing himself on the Keyblade still being held up to his chest. Roxas’ eyes widen and he pulls back. 

Too late. 

Black blood seethes out, dripping and dripping. Forming itself, as it hits the ground, into creatures of every shape and size. Some seem to pull themselves out of the bloody puddle, while others simply shape themselves from the blood droplets as it falls. 

Every single one, with their red eye markings, turns towards Roxas and  _ moves. _

~

Vanitas grabs the nearest Flood and proceeds to choke the life out of it. Letting it flow back into him, to become blood once more. The rest of them...Roxas has a Keyblade. 

He can take care of the Unversed just fine. 

And if he can’t...

Well, useless weaklings don’t deserve to live. That’s all. 

Roxas’ Keyblade swings and half of the Unversed die right then and there. Still weak, still tearing their way into existence. The rest attempt to claw through the black coat, bash him over the head. Distracting the “Nobody” quite nicely. 

Vanitas takes that moment of distraction as an opportunity to reshape his mask. Hide that face  _ that still isn’t his.  _

When he’s done, mask once more complete, Vanitas glances over to see all of the Unversed gone. Nothing more than stains on the tunnel walls. And on Roxas. 

Oh. Hm, that explains the easily ignored spikes of pain during the mask fixing. Signs of the Unversed being slaughtered. Returning to the source through their undeniable connection. 

“Does this happen  _ every time  _ you start bleeding?” Roxas demands. His hair is wild like his eyes and stained with Darkness like his face. 

Vanitas takes a moment to think about it. Running through the memories, through all four years of existence. Every time...

“Most times,” he’s forced to admit. Except fights with Ventus, for some reason. Whenever his Light had spilled his blood, the substance had remained what the Master called “inert.” Still and not moving at all, probably “neutralized by his opposing Light” (more words from his Master that Vanitas didn’t quite get). Only that the strange response of his blood to Ventus was just more proof that Vanitas needed the Light to be fully whole at last. 

Roxas squints. “That seems...painful?” He tries. 

Vanitas can’t help but laugh at that. “What makes you think  _ that?”  _

A scowl, directed right at him. 

Vanitas laughs harder. Stupid. “So, you going to kill me now?” 

“No.” The denial comes right away, killing Vanitas’ laughter just as fast. Vanitas blinks in response. What? Why not?

He only realizes he said the last thought out loud when Roxas says, “I don’t want to. I don’t think you deserve to die.” A head tilt, an afterthought. “Even for being an asshole.”

Deserve to die?

“It’s not about  _ deserve,  _ it’s about  _ need _ ,” Vanitas hisses. Besides, what does this kid know about what Vanitas deserves? He’s the scourge of a dozen worlds, a monster that served as an excellent tool.  _ Aqua  _ called him freak for a reason. He’s  _ proud  _ of it, too. 

(Isn’t he?)

“Okay. Then I need your answers,” Roxas responds readily enough. 

Vanitas sputters. “It- it- it  _ doesn’t work like that!”  _

Roxas isn’t asking any more questions, he has answers that he wanted. Vanitas has threatened him, nearly killed him with his Unversed. Now that he seems to know what he is (a Nobody), he’s less...weak. Less possible for Vanitas to push him around, lead him like he had been doing. 

Though Vanitas  _ hates  _ to admit it, Roxas doesn’t need him. Vanitas needs Roxas, for Ventus’ heart. But Roxas, with Keyblade, doesn’t need him. 

Yet Roxas isn’t leaving. He’s watching him, Keyblade vanishing from his hand. 

The kid sits down, leaning against the wall. Closes his eyes. 

“What are you doing?”

“Resting,” Roxas says. Sits there. Doing nothing else. Not...leaving.

Fine.  _ Fine.  _

Vanitas sits down with a huff. The floor is cold. But at least Roxas isn’t leaving. Doesn’t seem to be leaving. 

He’ll watch, just to make sure. 

A moment of rest. One that Vanitas knows, with every fragment of his shattered heart, won’t last long. 

He’s never been good at hiding. Spouting Darkness monsters tends to make that difficult at the best of times. They’ll be found. Eventually. 

Vanitas lets out a breath. All he can do...is prepare. 

Wait for the enemy to find them. 

(Wait for Roxas to leave.)

~

“Your Majesty, there are monsters in the streets!”

“Heartless?” Minnie frowns. There  _ can’t  _ be Heartless, the Cornerstone should be more than enough to protect from their incursions in either the Town or the Castle. 

“No.” A shaking head, from the messenger. 

“What are they then?” Minnie tilts her head in thought. Nobodies, the strange monsters lacking hearts that her husband claimed existed? Could they bypass the Cornerstone?

“They’re...pardon me, Your Majesty, but they look like the monsters from ten years ago!”

The Unversed? Back? Her trusted companion says the words Minnie’s thinking. 

“The Unversed shouldn’t be a problem anymore,” Daisy points out, fingers curled under her beak. 

“Yet somehow they are.” Minnie dismisses the messenger with a wave of her hand and a promise. “We’ll take care of these monsters, don’t you fret.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.” One last bow. 

“Daisy...I need to talk to my husband.”

Daisy gives a quick curtsy. “Of course. I’ll get Chip and Dale right away, to make contact.”

As the duck rushes off, Minnie turns to find her own path. To the foundations, to check the Cornerstone. Mickey had promised the threat of the Unversed was no longer possible, that long decade ago. How could they be back?

“Can I boost the Cornerstone somehow?” She wonders out loud. 

A sudden burst could enough to evaporate any current Unversed but would do nothing to prevent them from being replaced. No, what she needs to know is where the source is. And why now? Why after ten long years?

If they banished the Unversed again...the last time countless worlds had fallen to Darkness shortly after. Would another banishment bring about that fate once more?

“Oh, I hope not...”

Minnie wraps her gloved hands around each other. A common pose for her to take, while charging her own Light magic to use. Magic she’ll most likely need to call upon fairly soon. If the mastermind behind the Unversed has come back...Minnie steadies her heart. She’ll take care of it, defend her kingdom, at once. 

“Xehanort...have you returned?”

~

Riku has a headache. 

A headache that has been slowly getting worse over time, pounding right between his ears in his brain. 

Even covering his eyes didn’t seem to fix it. 

It was probably because of the smell.

Sniffing out the stranger that stole the Nobody...wasn’t hard. Riku chokes on the fumes, the disgusting taste of rotting turtle strong on the back of his tongue. 

Where the stink led is more of a surprise, though. Through dusty rocklands (that caused a shiver, deep in his chest), surrounded by...Keyblades. So many broken Keyblades. ...What happened there? Riku didn’t know there could be so many Keyblades before. And the dead...he’ll ask Mickey. Mickey with the only other Keyblade that Riku knows of, other than Sora and his Nobody. 

But for now, he hunts. 

The trail ends somewhere too bright, burning his eyes. Bright colors everywhere, loud, and crazy. Everything a creature of Darkness  _ shouldn’t  _ be.

But somehow it is. Somewhere, at the heart of this sugary sweet Light. 

Under his dark hood, Riku takes a deep breath. Chokes, on the smell. Yep, still here. Probably hiding. But Riku can find them, even in the shape of Ansem. A dark shadow, at the edges of one of the brightest lights he’s ever known. 

(Metaphor for his entire life.)

“Don’t worry, Sora, I’ll fix this.”

~

There’s a reason Axel has always been considered one of the Organization’s main assassins. Multiple reasons, but one of the biggest is his skills at tracking. 

Finding a Nobody could be difficult at the best of times, the animating soul nowhere as bright as the heart of the wimpiest Somebody. Adding the ability to Dark Corridor on top...well, that only made finding another Nobody more difficult. 

Roxas had been the easiest for Axel to find, for a while now. Like there was a thread in his chest, tugging him along after him, almost. Impossible as that was. 

(Nobodies don’t have hearts.) 

But for some reason, that connection had gone...Dark, for lack of a better word. Something to do with the freak that had stolen Roxas, Axel bets. Had to resort to simply sending out his Assassins in hordes, hoping they picked up something. 

His gloved fingers pinch and pull at his too loose skin, too elastic to be anything close to human. Not a Nobody, the thing had been too...

Axel frowns, pulling at his hair, as he searches for the right words. 

Loud, that was it. Like a Somebody, but more of a messy loudness. All over the place. Traces  _ everywhere,  _ making tracking difficult. 

Hopefully the thing would be as easy to kill as a Somebody. But Axel didn’t think he would be that lucky. He never was. Best method was...burn it to ash. Most living things couldn’t handle cremation temperatures. (A thousand degrees Celsius, he has it memorized.) Yeah, that was a good idea. Speaking of good ideas...

If there was  _ one  _ good thing to come out of this entire mess...nobody would think Roxas had left on his own and was therefore a traitor. Other than Saix, but Axel was pretty sure he could talk him around. Anything to build Kingdom Hearts, right? Once Axel got Roxas back...the redhead lets out an unnecessary breath. Coming out as steam, his fire  _ begging  _ to be released. 

Well, he could convince Roxas to stay. His friend would  _ have  _ to stay, to survive, and having a recent brush with non-existence could only help his argument. 

Then everything could go back to normal. 

An Assassin pops in, at the tailend of its Master’s thoughts. Axel blinks. “Yeah?”

A whisper of a voice, at a pitch no human could ever hope to understand. 

_ “We’ve found them, Master.” _

Axel grins, his slitted pupils widening. The temperature in the room rises to almost boiling. The Assassin trembles, but waits for confirmation. 

“Good. Let’s get this over with.”

~

Everything looks very different without the proper eyes to see them.

The Lingering Will endures, nevertheless. 

It always had and always will. Until fulfilling its purpose. 

Traveling worlds was more than a little difficult when the majority of your rage was bound to the location one died in. Yet...the Lingering Will takes out a paper, a paper that had lasted years and years in this dusty location. A picture of a castle and bright words promise  _ Disney Town  _ splattered in the middle. 

A promise and a key in one. Use the paper, follow the traces of that  _ Darkness... _ the Lingering Will steps forward and reality tears around it. The paper leads only to one world, and hopefully, that world is the one Ventus has been taken to. 

A duck, on the other side. By the gates to the town, now glaring at the Will. A town with a castle that...the Lingering Will holds up the paper. Comparing the image of the castle on it to the real castle on the horizon. Yep, they’re the same. 

Good. 

The duck puffs up. “Hey, you can’t come he-!”

The Lingering Will holds out the paper to the duck. The duck which squints and snatches the paper. Examines the paper, before raising his head to slowly nod in the Lingering Will’s direction. 

“Well, that’s a Disney Pass, all right. Suppose you can  _ come  _ here.”

The Lingering Will nods its thanks and takes back its ticket. Lifts its head towards the sky. 

Now...to find Ventus. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed a rating change. I'm still writing the same amounts of gore, I'm just thinking it's possible that a higher rating may be needed in light of that. Let me know if things need to be tagged for.   
> A kid that looks like Xehanort, a queen preparing for war against Xehanort, an angry ghost with a grudge, an assassin...there's no way this will go wrong.


	5. Peel Back Your Skin (What's Underneath?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vanitas revels in the Monster under his skin.  
> Roxas fears the Monster underneath his.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Rewrote this chapter twice. Hope it's finally good now.

Roxas looks at his gloved hands. Pulling his fingers into fists and then releasing them again. Stretching the leather. 

He wasn’t lying when he told Vanitas he needed him. Not exactly. Roxas doesn’t know...well, a lot of things. The fake memories still floating around in his head, sticking to things, pointed that out very clearly. 

How Somebodies worked, worlds outside of the Organization’s reach, more information about the Keyblade, about  _ Sora... _

Slowly, his fingers curl up again. Roxas shivers. 

Now, Vanitas clearly didn’t know everything that Roxas wanted to understand. But he knew more than Roxas currently did. Not that seemed to be much of an accomplishment at the moment. 

Had information that Roxas would need to stay free, at the very least. 

Because Roxas, despite everything that had happened with the attack from the boy named Riku, with the fake memories, the strange girl in white...doesn’t want to go back to the Organization. 

Never again. 

The leather creaks, as his fingers dig into his covered up palms. 

He  _ can’t  _ go back. 

But those same situations that should have made him want to go back... served as proof that Roxas couldn’t do this alone. Not without someone stealing him away. 

He uses the corner of his eyes to take in Vanitas. Sitting a foot or two away from him. Quiet and waiting...for something. 

There haven’t been any more of those monsters popping out, at least. 

How did something like that even work? Blood becoming a monster...

Roxas shakes his head. Well, couldn’t be any weirder than people losing their hearts to become Nobodies. 

He rises to his feet and the motion draws Vanitas’ attention, helmet turning towards him. 

“What are you doing?” Vanitas hisses. 

“We should get out of here.”

Vanitas tilts his helmet, apparently considering this. “And do what? Do you  _ want  _ to face those crazy black coats again? Especially the red-haired one?”

Roxas can’t...he closes his eyes and swallows. He can’t face Axel. He  _ can’t.  _ His chest burns at the thought, like the fire Axel fights with. 

Why? Why can’t he face Axel? What is he missing this time?

“I can’t fight him.”

Surprisingly, Vanitas doesn’t make fun of him for it. Roxas hasn’t known Vanitas for very long, but that seems like something he would do. Like Xigbar would. 

“He’s  _ mine,  _ then.” Vanitas is far too excited at the thought. He’s probably grinning, under his mask. Great. 

“Just, don’t,” Roxas tries. Probably uselessly. 

What are they going to do? They can’t stay in a sewer forever. Especially with Vanitas exploding with monsters like he apparently does pretty often. 

_ Plop.  _

A rabbit-looking thing drops out onto the floor, scurrying away. 

Like now, apparently. 

“Are you bleeding?” Roxas can’t help but ask. 

Vanitas leans his head back, tapping the back of his helmet against the wall. “Usually.”

“That...” Doesn’t sound good. 

A snort. “Don’t bother  _ worrying _ , there’s nothing you can do.”

Roxas frowns. Everyone always tells him that there’s nothing he can do...despite having the Keyblade, he’s powerless. 

Always powerless. 

Roxas is  _ really  _ starting to hate that feeling, now that he knows it’s a feeling. 

That the Organization  _ lied.  _

You know what? Enough thinking about this. Back to getting out of here. 

Roxas walks down the tunnel. And this time, Vanitas follows him. Without saying a single word. 

Up and out. “Where next?”

Vanitas audibly sneers. “Your  _ choice. _ ”

Uh, okay. Did Roxas do something to set him off?

“Well, th-”

Roxas is almost grateful for the familiar white-black swirl of appearing Lesser Nobodies.  _ Almost.  _

“Nobodies!” Roxas summons his Keyblade and Vantias stiffens next to him. Of  _ course  _ the Organization would send more Lessers after him, they had sent Axel after all. 

(Axel, Axel, Axel.)

Spikey wheel-like serpent-y Nobodies. Assassin Nobodies. 

“Those are Nobodies?” Vanitas sounds like he’s doubting Roxas’ words. And seeing how different Roxas himself looks from the Assassins, it makes sense. 

“Lesser Nobodies. Assassins, actually.”

Assassins, now who do the Assassins belong to? How it itches at his skull, Roxas feels like he should know the answer to that, that it’s-

“Hm.” Vanitas grunts. 

His next words come as a complete surprise. “Get out of here. I’ll take care of this.”

What? “What?”

Vanitas jerks his head to the side. “You heard me. Besides, I want a good fight. You’ll just get in the way.”

_ Ooh.  _ That makes more sense, what little Roxas knows about Vanitas. He still tries. “I can hel-”

“Don’t want your help.” A hiss. “ _ Leave.” _

Roxas screws up his face. “Fine. But if you’re not with me in a couple minutes, I’ll come back.” 

Vanitas’ blank mask swivels to almost stare in his direction. Completely silent for a few minutes. Before he finally agrees, in a flat voice. “...Fine.”

Roxas nods firmly. “Good. I’ll see you on the other side.”

He turns. He runs. Maybe he can draw a couple of Assassins away with him...

If Vanitas needs him...he’ll come back. 

~

The kid will come back for him if Vanitas fails? Give him a break!

No one helps Vanitas and that’s the way he likes it. The way it’s meant to be, for creatures in the Dark. 

What if Ventus had- ? No, nevermind. Stupid Light people, always getting into his head with stupid lies and worthless promises. 

He grits his teeth, shakes his head, his entire body. 

Vanitas can handle this on his own. 

He wouldn't be the monster he is if he couldn’t. Not worthwhile, at least. 

The grey creatures wiggle closer, all saw blades and knives. Assassins, hm?

These “Lesser Nobodies” are...Vanitas doesn’t know the words for what they are. Only that offense stirs in his heart at the sight of them, trying to form itself into Wild Bruisers right inside of him. 

They’re  _ wrong.  _ Like the Unversed are. Things that shouldn’t have ever existed. 

(Vanitas wants to kill one. Or several.)

Empty empty empty. If he rips one apart, Vanitas ponders, will that same kind of Dark blood that Roxas has spray all over the floor? Stick to his suit in another coating of Darkness, maybe.

The Nobodies are clearly moving to surround him, in their odd wiggling fashion. Fine. Vanitas’ll let them. Teach them a lesson about cornering  _ him.  _ Let the blood spray. 

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

Vanitas hisses, spinning around to face the speaker. That guy with red hair, from before, when he first grabbed Roxas. In that familar black coat. The one Roxas can’t fight. 

All right then. Vanitas can be useful, can fight what the kid can’t. 

He feels a sneer itching at the edges of his lips, a snarl almost. 

“Fuck off.”

The redhead lifts an eyebrow. Above really bright eyes. “Where’s Roxas?”

Vantias steadies his stance. “I’ve killed me and spread his guts all over town,” he snarks back.

The redhead stiffens. Not for long, but long enough that Vanitas  _ knows _ : he  _ cares  _ about Roxas. Oh, that’s  _ useful.  _ Or it would be, if Vanitas had any intention other than fighting him. Maybe more threats will get that wish to come true. 

“He screamed a lot, you know. Begged for a friend to come  _ save him...”  _ Vanitas stalks closer. 

Fire, fire all around him in a circle. Assassins, closing in. The redhead shouts, “ _ Shut up!”  _ Taking out wheel-like weapons, spinning into existence from the flame. 

Face safely hidden, Vanitas grins. 

Good. 

Vanitas might have no Keyblade currently but he has other options he can use. As much as he  _ despises  _ using them. 

Certain emotions may create specific Unversed, but cuts on certain body parts have the possibility to do the same, Vanitas has realized. Took a while to figure out, but there wasn’t much to do other than training, four years along in the Keyblade Graveyard. 

Against that rising heat...

Well, a Red Hot Chili (or a couple of ‘em) will be perfect. 

Slice his claws along the line of his right pinky...let the blood run. 

His opponent’s face screws up. “What are you  _ doing?” _

Vanitas doesn’t answer. No need for one, as the droplets spread out into the red Unversed. Giggling and bouncing about in the air, spilling their fire onto the gray Nobodies. Eating up the heated air. 

“What the-  _ you’re  _ the source of those monsters?”

Hm, someone familiar with his Unversed? Well, it didn’t matter now.

“Time to fight me!” Vanitas hisses. Readies his stance, bares his claws...dives for it. Though his Keyblade may be gone, his speed stays with him, allowing him to flash around his enemy with little trouble

Green eyes narrow, as that enemy lowers his hands, Let the wheel-like weapons spin. Oh, those are chakrams. Vantias remembers now!

“You’ll  _ pay. _ ”

Ha, he will, will he? 

Fighting is so much harder without his Keyblade. His stupid Unversed eat up the flames by the bucketfull, as well as keep the Nobodies back, but the chakram hits are far less easy to handle.

Painful, even. 

Until they knock him down, one getting stuck in his chest. Well, his Dark Suit, but also kind of his chest. 

An exhale. 

Since Vantias’ face is hidden, he watches the red-headed Nobody walk to him, tugging out his weapon. About to check if he’s really dead by setting him on fire, probably. If the guy’s response to his Unversed is any indication. 

In perfect range for Vanitas to take him down. 

“Eat shit, you fiery asshole!”

People  _ always  _ got surprised when Vanitas  _ always  _ got back up again, no matter how hard the hit. 

Aqua’s face had been  _ hilarious  _ after a particularly nasty Thundaga to the near chest area, mixed with those odd wet streaks on her cheeks. Enough to keep giggling Spiderchests popping out for  _ days.  _

Despite his “lack of heart,” this Axel responds in exactly the same way as she did. 

Pure shock. 

“Wha- !?”

_ Perfect.  _

An opportunity, to attack. 

_ Weakness.  _

Roxas didn’t want to fight this Nobody. But this Nobody, with the black coat, was going to keep coming after them. How to stop that?

Simple answer? Kill him. 

Vanitas launches himself forward, claws outstretched. It’s almost too bad. It had been fun, fighting. Almost like fighting Aqua again. Without the Keyblade part. 

A sudden bright blinding Light takes him off guard. Causes Vanitas to pause mid-attack. Stop to look towards it. 

That Light, could it be...?

“Ventus?”

Off to the side, the redhead jerks violently at the mention of that name.

Vanitas ignores him, staring off in the direction of that great light. No, it couldn’t be. Doesn’t feel enough like his other half. 

Too harsh, not soft like any Light-users that Vanitas has challenged before. 

But Roxas...

“I wonder...what did you do?” Vanitas breathes. The gaping, bottomless void that makes up his heart  _ hungers.  _

Monster, monster, monster. 

What kind of monster has this “Nobody” become?

~

Of  _ course  _ Roxas would run into another one of his chasers when splitting up from Vanitas. One in a familiar black coat, but not Organization. Somehow, Roxas knows that for certain. 

“You can’t run forever.”

Roxas summons his Keyblade. It’s him, the mysterious stranger that stole the munny! A stranger...Roxas frowns, as the memories float up to the front of his thoughts. Of a fight that he almost won if not for...

Darkness. 

“You’re...Riku.”

‘Riku’ stiffens. “You remember.”

Roxas grits his teeth. “You’re not taking me back there. I won’t let you!” 

He bursts into motion, running at Riku with his Keyblade raised. Swiping out with all the power Roxas can put into the blow. 

Riku catches it easily with his own sword. 

What? He couldn’t have!

A burning pulse in Roxas’ chest. Is it the heart that Vanitas claimed he had? Why now and not any other time? His left hand burns. 

(We have to go back to Sora!)

“No! I’m not going back!”

“You have to!” Riku waves his hand and the Heartless from before, the one that apparently works for him, rises out of the ground. 

Grabbing at Roxas’ arms, his legs. Any limb, whatever is closest. 

“No!” Not again. 

Right between Heartless and Nobody, slices a Keyblade. One that Roxas has seen before, briefly. 

His eyes go wide. It’s that...that  _ armor that fought Vanitas! _

Why is it here?

“What?” Riku leaps back as his minion shudders and falls apart into Darkness. He holds his sword up, just in time to catch the armor’s attack. 

The armor makes a grinding sound, as it presses forward. Pushing down with all of its strength against its enemy’s blade. Despite the armor being empty of any flesh, any body, that strength is overwhelming. 

Even Riku has to back away in the face of that. Has to give ground. 

He backs away and Roxas does too. Hurting. Pained. The fight...he needs to get back to Vanitas. If he’s in trouble...well, Roxas can’t stay here any longe-

Roxas’ skin burns. An all too familiar feeling, especially when he’s been overwhelmed in battle. No, no, not  _ now-!  _ Not a Limit Break. 

But he can’t hold it back. 

Limit Break is an interesting term. About breaking one’s limits, to unleash an inner power. But for a Nobody, without a heart within, what inner power are they unleashing? What limits are being broken?

(What will be revealed?)

Limit Break is, to Roxas, something to avoid whenever possible. 

Use up his potions, use up his mana casting Cure, all of that first before going into Limit Break. Anything to stop it from happening. 

Why?

(The Organization, when they first saw him, muttered and gossiped. Complained about how  _ human  _ he looked, how normal.)

(They stopped complaining after his first Limit Break.)

(After they saw what he became.)

His skin cracks, letting the light out. Letting the light  _ through,  _ burning through the Darkness that serves as his blood. 

And the monster that is Roxas silently screams. 

(Oh, Roxas, I’m  _ sorry!  _ I didn’t mean to do this to you!)

~

Once the bright light dims...

Flesh as pale as a Dusk’s, covered in twisting thorn-like patterns, a dragonish monster roars, hand-wings spread wide. Still glowing. 

Reminding Riku far too much of Maleficent. 

Despite the black blood that’s splattered all over the ground as the result of this transformation. Everything else is too similar. 

There’s a monster in Sora’s skin, standing before him, and it’s completely Riku’s fault. 

Nobodies are awful enough, as DiZ has explained to him. Bodies wandering around with no hearts, becoming monsters in the process, that’s awful. Hurting people in the process, that’s even worse. 

The only exception is Namine, who has her own body (not Kairi’s). 

If she had Kairi’s body, though, Riku doesn’t know  _ what  _ he would do. 

(He’s grateful she’s not.)

That it’s  _ Sora’s  _ body, getting all twisted and changing unnaturally...leaves Riku with a sick feeling in his stomach. 

He  _ has  _ to fix this. Use the Dark once more. The power gathers in his fists, ready to attack. Strike Roxas down, before this gets any worse. 

(If he destroys Sora’s body, though...where would it go?)

(No. He can’t think about that. Not now.)

Just fight. 

When he lets loose his Darkness...something gets in the way. A suit of...armor? Gold and brown and red, with a-

“ _ Keyblade _ .” Riku breathes, jumping back as the armor slams down with its weapon of choice. A weapon that he has only seen Sora use. (And...someone else?)

Something about that Keyblade...why is it so familiar? Has he seen it somewhere else before?

Whatever it is...this enemy is so strong that Riku has no choice but to use the Guardian against them. If only to keep them off his back while Riku fights Roxas. 

But the Guardian doesn’t do what it’s supposed to do. Which is to fight against the armor. Instead it...almost falls into it. The armor shivers and for a moment, Riku catches a glimpse of yellow eyes beyond that visor. 

“What?”

The armor...Darkness whisps from its cracks and edges. It reaches out and Riku is too shocked to even move away. 

Big mistake. 

The armor-Guardian thing grabs him and the Darkness...reaches up to swallow him. Riku can’t even scream, the terror stuck in his throat. 

It’s every nightmare after Ansem come back to haunt him. 

He can’t get away. 

He’s doomed. 

And Riku falls into the Dark. Or rather, is dragged into it, armored gloves taking him down with them. 

For the second time in his life. 

~

The redhead’s recovered. The opening to finish him off is gone. Vanitas will just have to fall back on an old strategy, one he employed over and over again against blue-haired  _ Aqua.  _

Running away. 

Vanitas straightens. Rolls his shoulders. 

“You know what, I’m done here.”

Green eyes widen once again. Before he can do anything, Vanitas walks backward. Uses a brief Dark Corridor to skip his way towards the source of the Light. To what really matters unlike this...

What was his name again?

Didn’t matter. Not like Vanitas needs to memorize it or anything. 

The source of the Light...well, it’s a monster. Not Ventus, or even his double. Vanitas takes a moment to feel disappointed before flushing it away in the form of a Monotrucker. A small one. 

A monster that feels like...Roxas. Hm. Gray and floppy and huge. Dragon-shaped with lots of tendrils and a little bit of teeth. And wings, like an Axe-Flapper’s. 

“So you’re like me after all,” Vanitas thinks out loud. 

A monster. 

Roxas snaps his jaws, flicking out his wings. Not moving an inch. Not even to get out of here before all of their enemies catch up. Wherever they may be. Stupid. 

“C’mon, moron. Need to get out of here.” Vanitas rolls his eyes and reaches out to grab one of the new tendrils. 

Losing control like this...c’mon, Roxas had to know better.  _ Vanitas  _ knew better. You lose control, and get your Master’s Keyblade almost right through your chest for attempting to kill him. 

Once or twice, maybe. 

(It had happened three times.)

(All before his Master told him about the X-Blade, about his  _ real  _ purpose. Never after.)

(So there!)

Pull and the Roxas-monster follows easily. Doesn’t even attempt to chew on Vanitas or anything like that, which is already a step above his Unversed. 

Now, how to get the human shape back? Vanitas chews at his lower lip, that practiced in-between of causing thought-building pain and drawing blood. The tendril he’s gripping wiggles slightly. 

Not a single noise has escaped the Roxas-monster. If he’s screaming, it’s on some pitch Vanitas can’t hope to catch. Not like that matters. “Turn back,” he orders.

No answer. Just more flopping. 

“Guess if you won’t turn back...” Vanitas flexes his claws, letting them slide in and out again. “I’ll  _ rip you out. _ ”

A thrill in his veins, a grin hidden behind his mask.

Oh, this is going to be  _ fun.  _


End file.
